Hormones and Weight Loss

It's pretty common to blame difficulty losing weight on 'hormones'. Hormones do play a big role in weight gain and weight loss, but the story is complicated because of how many different hormones are involved. Here is a quick summary of some of the key hormones that affect your weight loss efforts, and the diet and lifestyle changes that shift them in the right direction.

Hormones that affect Weight

Hormones regulate almost every function of your body, from what time you wake up in the morning to making sure you stay properly hydrated. Insulin is the most important metabolic hormone, which you can read about in The Weight-Loss Metabolism Connection, but it's not the only one. Many other hormones directly or indirectly influence your metabolism, appetite, and weight.

Thyroid Hormone

WHAT IT DOES

Thyroid hormone is a hormone that regulates metabolism independently of your diet. Low thyroid hormone, often caused by autoimmunity, can cause weight gain, and excess thyroid hormone can cause weight loss. Other symptoms of imbalanced thyroid hormone include hair loss, feeling cold all the time, and an elevated heart rate. Your doctor probably screens your level of thyroid hormone at every annual physical. If it is clinically too high or too low, medication can adjust it.

HOW IT AFFECTS WEIGHT LOSS

If I suspect a client has a thyroid problem, I will refer them to their doctor, but I rarely have a client who has a clinically relevant, undiagnosed thyroid problem. However, marginally low thyroid hormone is pretty common, and it can be responsive to diet and lifestyle strategies that give the thyroid a boost. These strategies get incorporated into the client's plan.

Estrogen

WHAT IT DOES

As a sex hormone, estrogen has many roles, but it also does many things that seem to have nothing to do with fertility or pregnancy, including promoting insulin sensitivity. I like to think that's Mother Nature's way of keeping a potentially expectant mother healthy. When estrogen declines — whether in the second half of your cycle or during menopause — insulin resistance rises.

HOW IT AFFECTS WEIGHT LOSS

Often, when women go through the menopausal transition, the diet and lifestyle strategies that have kept their weight stable all their lives start to feel ineffective for controlling their weight. Is weight gain inevitable? No. We create a plan that includes diet and lifestyle changes that promote the insulin sensitivity that is lost when estrogen declines. Sleep and stress, two things that often take a hit during this time of life, are usually a big part of that plan.

I recently had a mid-life client who had steadily gained a pound or two a year over the previous decade, despite having made no changes to her diet or exercise routine. Rather than accepting that as a 'normal' function of aging, we incorporated diet and lifestyle strategies aimed at improving her insulin sensitivity, and she lost 15 pounds.

Cortisol

WHAT IT DOES

Cortisol is released during times of stress. One of its roles is to increase your blood sugar by stimulating the release of glucose stored in your tissues. That's a great strategy when the stress requires energy to resolve, like moving camp because an enemy is approaching, but it's a terrible strategy when the stress is chronic and involves something like traffic or your boss. Under chronic stress, blood sugar stays high despite what you eat, contributing to insulin resistance.

HOW IT AFFECTS WEIGHT LOSS

Stress reduction strategies are always part of a comprehensive weight loss plan. Cortisol can also be elevated by your eating and exercise habits, so we look at those and evaluate whether you are creating stress by pushing your body too hard.

Ghrelin

WHAT IT DOES

Ghrelin is one of your hunger hormones, produced by your stomach when your stomach is empty. It sends a signal to your brain to say, please feed me! Once your stomach is full, ghrelin production is suppressed, telling your brain that you've had enough. Like insulin, ghrelin also promotes fat storage.

HOW IT AFFECTS WEIGHT LOSS

White-knuckling through your hunger might keep you from eating sometimes, but for long-term weight loss, you need to understand and reduce your hunger, as I explained in the post Three Types of Hunger, Which One is Your Achilles Heel?

Some foods, like protein, tamp down the ghrelin signal more effectively than others. A common strategy for many of my clients is to add protein to their breakfast to help prevent the mid-morning munchies. Lifestyle factors, like poor sleep, can also increase ghrelin levels, as well as your insulin resistance, as described in How Sleep Affects Hunger.

Leptin

WHAT IT DOES

Leptin is a hormone released by your fat cells to send your brain a signal that you're full. That helps keep you from overeating. It's one of the symphony of hormones that normally keep your weight stable.

HOW IT AFFECTS WEIGHT LOSS

If you're carrying excess weight, an abundance of fat cells produces a lot of leptin. Much like too much insulin, excessive leptin induces resistance. When that happens, the 'stop eating' signal goes quiet. Leptin resistance is one of the things that can make weight loss hard in the beginning. However, simple diet and lifestyle strategies, like increasing protein and reducing stress, can help. As you shift to a lower insulin-promoting diet, and you start to release fat, lower leptin follows, which makes the whole process easier.

GLP-1

WHAT IT DOES

GLP-1 is a hormone produced by your gut to slow stomach emptying, stabilize blood sugar, and reduce your appetite. GLP-1-based weight loss medications work by introducing much greater levels of GLP-1 than your body naturally makes.

HOW IT AFFECTS WEIGHT LOSS

Although natural strategies will never achieve the levels produced with medication (despite the claims you may read on social media), you can boost your innate GLP-1 with the right foods. Doing so can be a helpful piece of the overall weight loss puzzle.

When I work with clients who want to lose weight and improve their metabolism, we incorporate strategies that target all of these hormones. Depending on the client, one may be more important than another. The key to success is a customized plan that addresses hormonal imbalances, as well as your current diet, age, and state of insulin resistance, as described in Why is Losing Weight so Hard?. A personalized plan is the foundation of my coaching program to help clients lose weight and improve their metabolic health.

Learn more about Personalized Nutrition Coaching to Improve Metabolic Health.